There is space for at least three new Keepers. Anyone with the need to amuse and inform should write Frank and lobby for one of the positions. This site should continue to thrive and to do that it needs some new writers but Frank has always been in charge here so unless he wants…

Holy Shiet, it is old home week on the V. My Marcus alarm went off and I knew I better check in.

To make a long story very short, I turned in my Keepers bunker keys six months ago. I didn’t turn them in as much as threw them in a boggy hole and walked away. So it is just Brett and Frank at the helm so send all guest articles and cogals directly…

Baboom, Etsy. This is a re-imagining of the original decal head badge, with some v-cogs chucked in there. That was the easy part, now to do everything else a recently sandblasted frame requires. This is brushed and polished nickel. What a deal.

the same merciless assault on one’s bank balance whenever one passes a [bike store / music store / hardware store], the same inexorable hunger to fill the void left by the failure (to date) to acquire that urgently needed [Colnago / ES-335 / drop-saw]. Unfortunate and regrettable – but…

Related to the Bella in the photo, that paint job and “Bella” on the downtube were all a result of me having it repainted and the original decals no longer being available. I tried to reproduce them but they looked like crap so the painter added the Bella himself. I’m about to repaint the frame again and after despairing the lack of a proper…

That is a very reasonable opening salvo for the Rule about bike ownership. Three is good and certainly a minimum, and we are talking road bikes here, if there was any doubt. They naturally become ordered: the […]

I have two bikes. #1 is my stunning 2013 SuperSix HiMod with Red 10 and carbon tubular climbing wheels. #2 is the never lets you down 2011 CAAD 8 with a mix of 105 and Ultegra and a mish mash of parts that have taken my fancy over the years. Only the frame and the seat pin remain of the original bike.

I’ve aslo got a 2007 Cannondale Prophet but I’m not counting that as #3 as Angus has been using more than I have recently. It’s become part of the Collective which is the amorphous mass of bikes that are loosely assigned to the rest of the family and is formed of:

2016 CAAD 12 (105 11 speed) – Angus’ current road bike but only assigned to him on the condition that the lawn is mowed on a weekly basis (this can be substituted other jobs and projects during the winter).

Or a certain lack of funds. However, I think this is fine as long as one aspires to extend your bike collection. I think if I was truly satisfied with my current stable I really wouldn’t think myself worthy of the V-Jersey.

Related to the Bella in the photo, that paint job and “Bella” on the downtube were all a result of me having it repainted and the original decals no longer being available. I tried to reproduce them but they looked like crap so the painter added the Bella himself. I’m about to repaint the frame again and after despairing the lack of a proper head badge decal I found a guy on Etsy who makes some amazing personalized etched metal head badges. I’m getting one of these!

In my experience, “n+1” is a universal truth which manifests wherever one has an equipment-related passion. The same issues of categorisation (“Do my [travel guitars / mountain bikes / angle grinder] belong in the same class as my [ti bike #1 / strat / skill-saw]”?), the same merciless assault on one’s bank balance whenever one passes a [bike store / music store / hardware store], the same inexorable hunger to fill the void left by the failure (to date) to acquire that urgently needed [Colnago / ES-335 / drop-saw]. Unfortunate and regrettable – but immutable and inevitable. May as well accept it. Or so I assert to She Who Must Be Obeyed.

the same merciless assault on one’s bank balance whenever one passes a [bike store / music store / hardware store], the same inexorable hunger to fill the void left by the failure (to date) to acquire that urgently needed [Colnago / ES-335 / drop-saw]. Unfortunate and regrettable – but immutable and inevitable. May as well accept it. Or so I assert to She Who Must Be Obeyed.

You are wise. good sir…a merciless assault indeed…Unfortunate and regrettable – but immutable and inevitable. Yes, we are doomed. I hope SWAMBO buys it.

I have my multi-purpose Nr#1, Felt F75 which I use for commuting, long rides, racing, TT, turbo, with 1 set of ‘ran/training’ wheels and one set of ‘best/race’ wheels.

I have my flat bar/road wheels heavy-as-shit Giant which I use for commuting (my commutes on this are sometimes hilly 25kms though).

And I have my new track bike (which is actually quite retro).

Obviously, I NEED an aggressive carbon racer with Ultegra and deep section wheels.

Obviously, I also need a half-decent TT bike.

I’ve also spotted a gap for a cross bike – not to race cross, but to use riding easy singletrack MTB with the Velomini and to take as a holiday bike, as it would be able to do everything. Obviously, I’d then need 2 sets of wheels, 1 for the road, 1 for the dirt.

Back in the day I was collecting guitars and I eventually reached what I considered to be critical mass. And that is this; a new guitar could be brought in to the house and be completely unnoticed by any other members of the household. There were that many of them.

Reaching critical mass with bikes? Well that’s a little different endeavor. Not any more or less expensive mind ya. You can find and collect a $300 or $10,000 guitar as easily as you could a bicycle. It’s just that guitars come in cases and are easily tucked in to corners and closets or simply hung on the wall. Bikes on the other hand quickly relegate cars to driveways. And then everything else that would normally be in the garage gets left out back. Because my ’17 bike purchases will all be upsized replacement bikes for the young lady of the house we’ll not be probing the critical mass theorem of bikes. Everyone will know these bikes have entered the stable. But then we can return to normalcy in ’18 and explore achieving critical mass.

10 roadbikes and mtb’s in Switzerland and 6 commuters in the Netherlands for the whole family. Is a bit much for a family of 6 indeed. To my defense, colleagues visiting from abroad used my roadbikes for the Friday lunch ride.

Yesterday, a colleague of mine asked me how my cycling went. So I proudly showed him a pic of the new trackbike. It was only when he saw it was a Koga, that it was a trackbike and not a Trek (road)bike.

Should you ever renovate your house you will find numerous opportunities to ensure ongoing concealment of your collecting manias: large cupboards can be built in a music room so that guitars can be smuggled in unnoticed, part of the garage can be turned into a dedicated workshop in which power tools can multiply undisturbed, and this can necessitate the construction of a shed in which to house the bikes, which can thereafter safely breed away from prying eyes. Such, at least, has been my experience. Whether it is prudent to remove constraints on the potential for self-impoverishment is a question I suggest not be contemplated too closely. Far better to just get out and ride, then stay in and play / build.

right now, i have one complete bike and a box of parts i am hoarding for my next build.

#1 is a Haro/Masi Gran Criterium. lugged, oversize Reynolds 525 tubing, 105 groupsan, Ritchey components. i saw it hanging in my lbs, and the name caught my attention. (the names Masi or Gios will catch the attention of any vintage steel bicycle freak) i took it for a ride, and that was THAT. this bike is better than my old Serotta Atlanta, or my Merckx Corsa. it is stiff enough, and SUPER lively. easily the most FUN bike i’ve ever owned.

#2 will be a Ritchey Road Logic. i’ve got everything i need except the frame. this one will be Ultegra groupsan, Ritchey components.

I’m not so sure my commuter can be counted… (in your eyes it’s probably worse than a MTB)

I still can’t get over it, we have 17 bikes in our garage (we’re a family of five, the boys are all under 10, I ignored the bikes which are too small or have no pedals) and only three of them can properly be called A Bike.

And with 17 bike-like-things in the garage, you can guess where the car is…

Ok, I’ll open the window a crack to give you guys a peak at one of my best techniques, but before I do, I’d like to say that without my partner, as the CFO of our family, I’d probably be on the street corner with my hand out saying, “A looney for the bus, sir?”

That said, I’ve learned that there are some things in life (such as guitars and bicycles) that supersede all others and because those in control may not understand this (and it’s not worth arguing about), utmost secrecy is required (meanwhile, my wife probably knows all about my dirty little tricks and let’s it go because, hey, love is like that and my shenanigans don’t really make a significant impact on our financial situation). In summary, it’s the second part of Rule #12 (s-1) that is probably the most important: let’s try to keep our relationships healthy.

My employer is part of the Canadian Savings Bonds program. An employee can sign up and get X amount of dollars deducted from one’s pay every two weeks. The interest earned is negligible, however, the money is diverted and set aside before it arrives in our bank account where our family CFO has full control. As everything is electronic and the host of payroll deductions that Canadians are subject to is very complex, it goes by unnoticed. The kitty slowly accumulates week after week. Once or twice a year, I’ll make a withdrawal and have a manual cheque mailed to my employer’s address. I take this to the bank and get it cashed on the spot–no record. The cash goes into the secret hiding place (again, for all I know my wife knows exactly where this is and exactly how much is in there). When an upgrade to say, Bike #2 is required, the money is there to make it happen and the cascading upgrades to the other bikes down the line fall into place accordingly as described by Gianni.

It’s important to say in conclusion, like with all petty crime, do not get greedy, keep the increments relatively small. Just be patient and let the magic happen in the background. DMLT #1 is just one way Rule #12 has prevailed in my household.

My CFO has similar control and but for that, likewise, I’d likely in the “a paper bag, you were lucky….” pickle. However, I used to have a special allowance that went into my own account called Squirrelled. Somehow that account got absorbed into some central project or other but has now been replaced by Ferreted that is all mine – but is also rather empty after project Gios.

Yes, “bottom of lake–it was a luxury.” My “Coffee” allowance has been helpful over the years, trickling into the kitty in support of Rule #12 activities. I get pushback when I put a Timmy’s medium, double-double on M/C from time to time. All part of the dance.

(but why both an Interceptor and an Ascender? [besides the obvious answer “B/c I can”]–I looked at Jaegher when I was getting ready to lay down some money on a new frame and I really liked the Ascender and it seems to do everything the Interceptor does ands more. Just curious as to why two Jaeghers and not a Merckx or De Rosa or Pinarello or whatnot).

Thanks, what worked for me thus far is the following: I live in Switzerland and if I export something from the EU (eg Netherlands) to Switzerland (which is not part of the EU), I can claim the 21% VAT on the EU-product back. I need to however pay 8% VAT for importing into Switzerland, but the net effect is 13%. On top of that, my employer has a CO2-reduction programme which means they co-pay 50% of bicycles, washing machines or even Tesla’s etc (up to a limit of 5000 CHF over a number of years) that help to reduce carbondioxide emission. Like that the net spend for a new bike is about the same as buying a used one.

Oh, I don’t have a real answer. I dig them, 100% bespoke, not made in Asia, Kurt is a great guy to work with, etc. Both my Jaeghers are the last frames I have bought, and other than vintage, I doubt I buy a mass produced frame again. I think I would rather spend my money with an artisan. And in there US at least the chances are slim to none that anyone else will line up at an event on the same frame as you.

#3 Chesini Arena with Ultegra 600, I know, it should be Campa, will happen some day! (early 1990s)

#4 Daddy’s vintage Belgian racer Securitas/Huy (1937) with non-vintage group-set. The vintage 3-speed set was lost in my learning period, somewhere in the 1970s.when those things had no value, sniff! :-(

My wife has a decent Trek aluminum bike, but doesn’t think hers should be better than mine. That said, I decided to upgrade the components from Tiagra to Ultegra from an “organ donor” Bianchi I picked up, which caused some cascading. I was going to sell the Bianchi frame, but it turned into a build project, still piecing it together with Campa. (It’s just wrong to get rid of a perfectly good celeste Bianchi, after all.)

There’s no way she will ever agree to ignore/not count my MTBs. Plus, I spent many years racing and have a long history with them, so they’re getting included in the list here.

#1 Pegoretti custom team with Record

#2 Somec with Super Record, early ’80s

#3 Somec with C-Record/Deltas, circa 1990

#4 Kuota Kross carbon CX with Dura Ace for gravel grinders

#5 Fat Chance Yo! Eddy steel hardtail

#6 Bontrager Titanium hardtail

#7 Turner full suspension mtb

#8 Motobecane single speed for commuting/restaurant hopping (cheaper than homeowner insurance deductible that I can leave locked up and not worry)

#9 Bianchi frame/build project, may replace #8

I’m with @Buck Rogers, I’m leaning towards a Jaegher for my next bike, but that won’t happen for a while.

Oh BROTHER! I cannot FUCKING WAIT! The frame is literally in the mail and I have the full groupo sitting at home just waiting to be mated up with it! I also have a full fi’zi:k cockpit and Chris King headset with the Eriksen Ti seatpost (Sweetpost) and King Ti cages. My wheelset is being built in Scotland by Big Al right now as well (Ambrosio Nemesis with Royce Venus hubs with FMB tubulars). Totally my life dream bike!

I’ve already named her “Ronde” as the RVV cyclosportif will be our honeymoon together!

No doubt I will be posting more than a few photos! (more likely it will be an obnoxious amount of photos).

Great question! When I found out I was moving to Europe last winter/spring I started to search for the best custom wheelbuilders in all of Europe so I would not have to worry so much about shipping, etc.

I searched and searched the internet, read reviews and sent off a few emails/facebook messages to shops but the problem with Big Al, even though his name popped up everywhere on my searches, was that he did not have email or facebook. I said, “WTF? Screw this guy.” And then I kept reading and finally said, “fuck it, I’ll give his shop a ring and see if I can get a message through to him” and when I rang, Big Al himself picked up and we proceeded to have the fucking funniest most brilliant conversation I’d had in ages. Laughing my ass off and talking about all things cycling and not cycling.

After thirty minutes or so of chatting (of which I could only understand about 40-50% with his accent) he goes, “Okay, yeah. I’ll build you some wheels” which made me realize that I think that he was interviewing me more than I was him about the build!

The guy is Legend and I “cannae wait” to make my trip over to Scotland to pick up my wheelset.

Oh yeah, I was also speaking to him last week and I asked about the money and how I could at least wire him 50%, etc and he goes something along the line, “Oh, donna worry bout that. I’ll build ’em up and we can work it out when you git ‘ere”. We’re talking about a over $1,000 dollar wheelset. Just crazy.

Cannot get over how much it was pre-ordained that he was going to build my wheelset for this ultimate bike of mine.

Man, I’m feeling inadequate now, with just 3 bikes. Strangely enough my original (recent) number 1 (Pinarello Angliru) became my number 3 as soon as the new number 1 arrived (Pinarello FP7), mainly because the number 2 (Pinarello Sestriere) is lighter and more comfortable (steel over aluminum). However, I still wrestle with the irony that the aluminium Angliru stays home except in the worst of weather, whilst the steel Sestriere becomes winter no. 1 and summer wet weather bike.

Gonna have to give a shout out to the Community regarding my stable. I have a pretty nice set of bikes and don’t foresee any new additions in the near future, as I’m all set. AND, time to ride, not bikes to ride is the issue these days with a new child in the house.

Since I’ve been ’round here a few years, I played my cards right. Did all of my $$$ stable additions when I a) wasn’t married b) wasn’t with a child. Putting together a modest commuter is far less cause for a serious lecture from the better half than “Honey, I think I’m going to order a custom built road bike and go for a top tier gruppo. And carbon wheels.” From hearing the tales of others, I knew it was best to do all major bikes purchases BEFORE major life changes.

Jeez, buddy. You’re amongst a Community of cycling enthusiasts. We love bikes and riding them. I dare say nobody here is behind on child support or their mortgage or committing white collar crimes to buy the steeds they love and use. Plus, this isn’t throwing away money on a drug habit or gambling or a monster truck we don’t need. We’re acquiring beautiful machines that are a built-in diet and which improve our overall health, both physical and mental.

For me personally, I picked up most of my bikes when I was getting by on a meager grad student stipend. I lived very frugally and put money into bikes I wanted and rode like crazy. I also needed a lifetime sport at that point, after burning out on my previous sporting pursuits. I can’t even begin to quantify what cycling, and this Community, have meant to me. I sure as hell don’t know what I’d do with my free time and free mental space if it wasn’t riding, talking, and loving bicycles. I ride avidly and daily, both for fun and fitness and to get around. Additionally, I haven’t owned a car since I got hooked on the sport in the early aughts. I might have a whole bunch of bikes, but they still add up to only a modest automobile. And I don’t buy petrol. And I don’t pay for insurance. And I’m not sitting in a car in traffic, I’m pedaling. Many people probably spend $5 a day on fancy drinks, maybe 8-$10 on lunch, etc. Add that up and I’d rather avoid those and buy a kick ass bike to ride. Life is about choices and I choose to be a Follower. I have a neighbor who has two Mercedes in his driveway and rides a department store bike. Makes no sense to me, but hey, he puts his money towards what he values. I’m not fabulously wealthy, but I’m happy to spend my disposable income on something very important to me.

Anyway, maybe you just meant that in jest. But, the Rule is kinda in jest and you’re talking to serious cycling enthusiasts. I’m completely modest and frugal in the rest of my life, but when it comes to bicycles, I take pride and joy in Looking Fantastic and riding awesome machines.

I’d be happy if it was the last and only road bike I own. But that doesn’t stop me from looking at all the other great bikes out there. I’ve had it for a very long time in bike-years (16), we’ve been down many roads together.

Your new build is indeed a dream bike, post as many photos as you want.

THIS x100. i haven’t owned a car or truck for 17+ years. that this is still not practical for every cyclist nowadays is evident, but things are improving all the time. not suffering the costs of ownership has afforded me and my family a much higher standard of living, and a GREAT education for my children. i haven’t even owned many bikes during this time, but anybody with a basic grasp of arithmetic and the inclination can quickly compute how many Pegorettis and Nags one can purchase for the cost of a new sedan.

Speaking of polygamy: I bought my current #1 not from my regular bike shop. Now I have to be super careful in what I buy for it, who I talk to about it, where I take it for maintenance, etc. I’ve never cheated on my wife or previous girl friends, but man it can be a lot of work.

I’ll take it one step further…in grad school I lived with my parents, as they were nearby my university. I generally don’t give a hoot what others think of me, so moving in with my parents in my later 20s was something I just kind of laughed at. Saved rent = more bikes! Plus, I was old enough to realize, “You know, I might never see my parents this often again.” Win and win.

I purchased both my Tommasini and Casati on my grad student stipend money. Thank YOU New York State taxpayers. Buck…if you were down with the Black Knights on the river a few years back, you are part of the reason I could afford them! How about that?

A few things, Cary. Yep, not owning a car has put what I’ve spent on bikes in perspective. Even though I’ve spent quite a bit, still not like buying, maintaining, and insuring a car. And yep, I don’t think you MUST have a slew of nice bikes, but I don’t think anyone should feel guilty for owning, loving, and riding pretty bicycles.

I completely understand car free isn’t for everyone. I count my blessings daily that I can bike to work on a MUP and live in a city where cycling is pretty accessible and not horribly dangerous (though not great). I know this isn’t an option for all. With that said, I do very much wish more series type A roadies would get on a bike when it’s not training ride day. If you are okay riding hundreds of kilometers all over the place, surely you can make commuting to the store or work a reality. THIS is somewhere I think roadies can evolve as U.S. cities get more dense. I know a few dudes who only ride to race/train and drive everywhere else. I’m not preachy, but hell, if you can keep one more chugging engine off the roads, why not? I’m also extremely lucky with where we bought our house. I can walk my son to school when he’s old enough. After that school, I can bike him to the next one. A neighbor rides his daughter in daily in a trailer. How cool!

As a little aside, I live around the corner from a major top notch university. They bill themselves as green and have a world-renown environmental school. On a daily basis I see undergrads living in a shared house emerge one by one and drive solo to campus, which you can throw a rock and hit. NOT KIDDING. I think to myself, “So this is the next generation? The ones I entrust the environment to? The ones at a green university and a top flight one?” It’s depressing.

for much of my ’20s, i had convinced myself that i was cycling as some kind of crusade to conserve environmental resources, limit pollution, etc. somewhere around 30-32 years of age, i realized that i was bullshitting myself. i cycle: a) because it’s fun, b) because i’m cheap, c) because i appreciate the aesthetics and elegant superiority of bike transportation. that’s pretty much it. in so many other aspects of life, i’m a wasteful lout like everybody else. the world moves so fast, especially now, i just can’t make my life work without wasteful modern conveniences like take out food and bottled water. if not owning a car for nearly two decades helps the world, so much the better, but i’m mostly too busy trying to help me and mine to pay too much attention to that.

one GREAT thing that i’ve noticed over the last 20 years, is the increase in the prevalence and utility of bike lanes. there are HUGE swaths of my city where i can just ride down the middle of the street at 35kph without a care in the world, and i’m not alone. the motorists have gotten used to this, too, by and large. it’s really kind of paradise around here, compared to 20 years ago. as the world gets more crowded, bikes just make too much practical sense for people to ignore them as a viable alternative. i think demographic and economic pressures will succeed in greening the world where idealism has basically failed thus far.

Word, living in Canberra is odd: the Green party regularly shares power in local government, there’s bike lanes everywhere, but it’s a munted city where having a car makes life so much easier. For all it’s got going for it, Canberra has literally unlimited urban sprawl – its the defining feature of the city. Food miles, particularly are terrible because it is surrounded by not very productive farmland, and all the food has to be trucked in, making food prices very susceptible to price changes in the cost of fuel. I do ride everywhere, and I’m definitely in the minority here, I’ll see a handful of cyclists out and about compared to other cities. I am pretty buzzed on myself that I don’t drive everywhere, that I ride and commute as much as possible, in terms of keeping cars off the roads, but the climate here is pretty dreadful for cycling and I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to do it. I’ve never bought a car, I’ve always lived in cities (Canberra excepted) where owning one was either not necessary or a waste of money, and hate driving. As such, I have very ugly commuters that are the heroes of the $ per km equation, and nice expensive road bikes that sit for days at a time till it’s their turn for crib night/sunday best/track racing.

Baboom, Etsy. This is a re-imagining of the original decal head badge, with some v-cogs chucked in there. That was the easy part, now to do everything else a recently sandblasted frame requires. This is brushed and polished nickel. What a deal.

This – I can’t believe people I work with don’t cycle in. There are a few of us who do but I’m the only one who does it every day. Traffic into and out of the city is awful and getting worse – cycling is just so quick and easy.

I happily commute to my other office in the next city (20-25ks away), and when I tell people this they look at me like I’ve just fallen from a spaceship. “You cycle all the way? What about when it rains? You cycle in the rain??!”.

I want to tell them that’s not the hard part – the hard part is going home the long way and doing threshold training efforts all the way, with rucksack. In the rain.

Yup, I don’t mind commuting in rain or bad weather. At this point, I’m so unused to driving that parking, dealing with aggressive/lawless motorists, waiting in traffic, etc. is much, much worse than cycling in cold rain. My body & brain are now attuned to the fact that we’re constantly moving closer to our destination; sitting in traffic drives me bonkers.

And my city is booming, to my displeasure. (I don’t like big cities, showy folks, etc.) The only upside is that traffic density is going to force more cyclists and hopefully better cycling infrastructure.

Same round here – loads of the green space on the outskirts of the city is going to be filled in with new houses but there is absolutely no space for new roads, or even improving the existing ones. The result is going to be gridlock. Me and the wife both work within 7kms of our workplace in the City Centre though and walking distance to my little boy’s school so we wont mind!

I found out that although I am the CFO of the household, the CEO is often very interested in the budget and tries to enthusiastically scan the bank statement when it lands on the mat for any statistical anomalies.

Thankfully, she isn’t that adept at separating dozens of 2 digit values from almost endless direct debits, and gets distracted by her groceries credit-card, registering nearly a monkey every month. For this reason any paypal transaction less than 3 figures is almost invisible. I have been known to split wiggle orders based on value alone to “make the boxes smaller” as far as she knows. It also helps if I sell things to fill up the buffer on paypal from time to time.

Resultingly;

Eddy Merckx EMX-1 (frameset only) from a LBS, fitted with NOS Campagnolo Athena 11sp, last of the Ultra-torque, Ultra-shifts, rolling on Zondas and Corsas

Dolan Prefissio nine bike (also frameset) with the trickled down NOS Campy Veloce 10sp, new hoods, but again Ultra-torque, ultra-shift.

The guilty-secret commuter, a “heavily modified” 700c hybrid bike (Dawes Discovery) with a e-hub in the front wheel, which really really annoys my colleague who thinks it’s cheating. (although in my defence, I had a nasty accident 6 months ago, and cracked ribs, wrist and hip were not going to make me drive to work, just to do a 20minute ride, to get no parking space every damn day)

Her bike, the specialized allez with 105. when my chorus/record/super upgrade plan kicks in, that load of pish is going on eBay.

It’s only my adopted city (my wife is local) and I’m angry about it. My friends who grew up here are beyond outrage. No, I don’t want to live in a depressed city, but it was perfectly fine how it was. We’re only around 35 kms from the state capital, which is a big city. Now our modest city is just getting ruined at a wild pace. Two new upscale hotels are going in, three new condos have been built, two more just announced. I have no idea where the people and jobs are going to come from! I kind of live in a bubble because I walk and bike everywhere and pretty much do the same thing week in and week out (work M-F, play soccer twice a week, ride my bike to work, ride on Sundays). Every time I go somewhere in the city I don’t frequent, there is a new condo or building going up. It’s nuts. Never, ever did I imagine I’d see insane gentrification before my eyes. Our property taxes just jumped like mad. Home prices are sky rocketing. It’s bonkers. We used to have a quiet little farmers market on Saturdays. Now a huge, gaudy condo looms on either side and transplants drive the walking distance so they can park their Audis out front.

There is no way this is sustainable. But, like you, my own silver lining is that my walking/biking can’t be influenced that much. Getting out of the city for training rides is another story.

I would like to raise a point of order, and theorise that the equation should be N=N which correctly describes the origin of the activity of cycling.

Often a pastime of the playthings, in early days, a form of transport, much as it is today, for those in society less fortunate. Whilst we covet N+1 in reality N=N is the statement that best describes what is important to cycling and it’s bearers of the rules. That is, you own a bike, welcome with all our hearts.

if you own a said device that, by the judgement of the comman man, is a device that is propelled by human power with two wheels (clause i and ii allowing for stabilisers for the future generation) that you therefore are compliant with the rule.

I do the school run by bike (the school is so close that my little boy sits up on my saddle and I push him to school), but it means that on my way out of dropping off I have to deal with the rest of the school run who are mostly in cars. This has two effects: I get held up in the traffic (GRR) and I am genuinely afraid for my life. There is not much more dangerous than a parent in a rush to drop the kids off before getting to work.

However, some of the other mums at school asked my wife if I was a pro cyclist because (apparently) I look so ‘sporty’ in my kit when I’m doing drop off. Winner.

I remember what my other one was on: the lost art of using the pedal/strap/toeclip combo. The kids today have it easy – and I say this from the point of view of learning how to ride rollers again. Too much shit is done these days with a swipe or jab of a finger.Or am I lacking the total perspective vortex?

Now get off my snow-covered lawn and build your snowman somewhere else!

I believe that Frahnk is locked away somewhere in a sacred cloister finishing writing “The New Testament”. As for Gianni, he’s probably on an EPMS buying binge for all of his cycling friends for Christmas.

This place has become like that French movie where the Insane Aslyum gets bombed during the war and all the inmates get out and go into the complletely deserted town and start running it!

Thanks Pedale, I was thinking of you as we spent time in Italy. Italy seems well, lots of small industry, work, infrastructure improvement. Things seem more hopeful there, meanwhile, we are riding off a cliff here…